Date Night (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
by ilna
Summary: Grace has an idea for Steve and Catherine.


**Notes:** Huge thanks as always to Mari and Sammy for the squeal-inducing feedback. You're the best!

Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for your amazing support. It is always appreciated.

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_Date Night (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)_

Grace dropped by Five-0 headquarters Wednesday after school to switch cars with Danny. Hers had been in the shop for some routine checkups and he'd picked it up that afternoon while she was at school. Chin and Kono were in court, but Steve and Danny were there chatting with her near the smart table with Catherine walked in.

"Auntie Cath, I'm glad you're here," Grace said as Catherine greeted them with a smile and a quick kiss for her husband. "I was going to call you guys later. I had an idea."

Danny snickered, glancing at Steve. "Oh, I am so glad I am here to see your reaction to this."

Steve glanced at him questioningly before turning his full attention on his niece. "What's up, Gracie?"

"I thought I could babysit one night this week so that you two could have a date night," she said, looking between Steve and Catherine, eyes bright and smiling broadly.

Steve raised his eyebrows, confused. "A what?"

Danny clapped his hands together, grinning. "And he doesn't disappoint."

Catherine glanced at Steve, pressing her lips together to hide her smile.

"You've got two kids now, Uncle Steve," Grace explained. "You've gotta make sure you make time for just you and Auntie Cath."

"And we, um … we do that with a … a what did you call it?" he asked, brow furrowing.

Danny chortled at his expression and Grace giggled.

"A date night," she repeated.

"That's very sweet, Grace," Catherine interjected.

The teenager beamed. "Gabby thought it was a great idea. She and Danno have date nights, even though they don't have little kids."

Steve glanced at Danny. "Oh really?"

"Of course we do," his partner replied. "We don't necessarily call it that, but we're busy people. It doesn't hurt to plan these things."

"So what do you think?" Grace asked, her hands pressed together hopefully.

Steve and Catherine looked at each other, sharing a smile. Turning back to their niece, Catherine nodded. "It sounds great. I know you've got cheer during the week, so what about this weekend?"

"Friday night?" Grace suggested. "We don't have practice because we have a competition on Saturday."

Catherine and Steve shared another quick glance. "That works for us, but are sure you want to give up your Friday night to babysit?" she asked.

"It's not giving up my Friday night," Grace said. "I love hanging out with Angie and DJ."

"Well," Danny said, rubbing his hands together, "sounds like it's settled, then." He clapped Steve on the shoulder and looked at him and Catherine with a big grin. "You, my friends, are gonna have a date night."

Grace clapped excitedly. "Yay!"

Catherine smiled at her enthusiasm. "Yay!"

They all looked at Steve expectantly. He blinked at the eyes on him and gave a little shrug. "Yay."

* * *

Friday evening, an excited knock came promptly at 5:30pm on the beach house door. Steve, DJ, and Cammie went to open it as Catherine had taken Angie to the potty a minute before.

Grace beamed when the door opened.

"Hi, Gracie, come on in," Steve said.

"Hi, Grace!" DJ said with a bright smile.

"Hi, DJ," she said, stepping inside. "Hi, Uncle Steve." She bent to greet Cammie. "Hi, Cammie." Looking back at DJ, she asked, "How was your second week at school?"

"It was great!" DJ said. "We made bubble gum pictures in art class!"

"Bubble gum pictures? What's that?"

"We drew pictures of ourselves and put a pink balloon on it like we're blowing a bubble!"

"Ohh, that sounds cool."

"Mine's in my room." He looked at Steve. "Can I get it to show Grace?"

"Sure, buddy," Steve said, opening the gate at the bottom of the stairs. DJ hurried up them with Cammie following.

Grace turned back to Steve and said, "I hope I'm not too early."

"Nope, you're right on time," Steve said with a proud smile for his niece's punctuality.

"Oh," Grace said, and bit her lower lip for a beat. "It's just ... you don't look ready."

Steve's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Is ... is that what you're wearing?" she asked with a little wince.

Steve looked down at his standard t-shirt and cargo pants. "Yeah. What's wrong with it?"

"Did you wear that to work today?"

"Yeah … so?"

"It's date night, Uncle Steve," she said, as if it should have been obvious. "You're supposed to dress up."

" 'Dress up'?" he asked, lip curling.

"Yes, everybody knows that."

"Gwace!" Angie squealed, coming into the room ahead of Catherine and running straight for her cousin.

"Hi, Angie!" Grace said, smiling brightly as she bent to pick her up and blew a big raspberry against her cheek, causing the toddler to laugh even as she wiggled. "Hi, Auntie Cath."

Catherine smiled warmly. "Hi, Grace."

Steve looked at her. "Did you know we were supposed to dress up?"

Catherine grinned, matching Grace's tone. "It's date night, Steve. Of course we're supposed to dress up."

* * *

"Admit it," Steve said, adjusting his tie after they were seated at their table. "You weren't actually going to dress up, were you? You just heard me and Gracie talking."

Catherine grinned, smoothing the skirt of her dress, and nodded, acknowledging the point. "It was just … your face. You can never say no to her."

"Neither can you, which explains what we're doing here."

She chuckled and they both looked up as their server stepped to the side of the table. "Good evening," he said. "My name is Ethan and I'll be your server this evening. Are you celebrating anything special tonight?"

Catherine smiled at him and shook her head. "No. Just a night out."

"Very well," Ethan said, easily moving on to take their drink order. "And can I get any appetizers started before your meal?"

"Anything that's not mac and cheese," Catherine quipped.

"Ohh, is it date night?" Ethan asked with a knowing smile.

Steve balked. "It's … that's …"

"It is," Catherine said, her eyes dancing with mirth at Steve's reaction. "Could we have the ahi tuna as an appetizer?"

"Certainly. I'll put that in right away and bring you your wine as you take a look at the menu."

"Thank you," Catherine said.

"Thanks," Steve echoed. "Good choice," he continued once their server had walked away. He chuckled. "You know I'll eat anything, but we _do_ eat a lot more mac and cheese now than I ever would have thought."

Catherine laughed. "We do." She opened her menu. "Definitely need to thank Grace for expanding our food choices for the evening."

Steve started to open his own menu but paused. "Is this something we should have been doing already?" he asked. "I mean, Angie's two and a half …"

"What? Date night?"

"Yeah. Seems like it's a pretty well-known concept," he said, glancing in the direction their server had gone.

"It is, but since when have we felt we need to do what other people do?"

"Never," he acknowledged.

She set down her menu and reached across the small table to take his hand. "The whole idea is to spend time alone, just us …" She smiled suggestively. "And we definitely do that."

He smiled back, running his thumb over her knuckles. "We do." His smile turned wry. "Couldn't exactly tell Gracie that, though."

"No," she said.

He sighed, smiling at the memory. "But she was so excited about the idea …"

She grinned. "And you can't say no when she gets that look in her eye."

"Yeah," he admitted, smiling.

She squeezed his fingers. "Steve, our kids' health and happiness will always be the most important things in our lives, but I have no doubt we'll keep us as a priority."

He nodded. "Neither do I."

Ethan returned a moment later with the bottle of pinot grigio they'd ordered, and while he was opening it, another server appeared with their appetizer: a plate of sesame-seared ahi tuna bites. Once the two servers had left the table, Catherine spread her cloth napkin in her lap and reached for one of the tuna bites with a smile.

"But for the record," she said, just before popping the appetizer in her mouth, "this date night thing has its advantages."

* * *

Both Steve and Catherine wanted to be home in time to tuck the kids into bed so didn't linger after dessert. They made it back as Grace was helping the kids get changed into their pjs.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Angie squealed from the upstairs landing, having run out of her bedroom in just her pj top and undies.

"Hi, baby girl," Catherine said with a chuckle. "Looks like you're missing something."

"We heard the door," DJ explained, as he and Grace came up behind her with Cammie.

Catherine and Steve made their way upstairs and through the top gate while Angie waited impatiently, bouncing on the balls of her feet and reaching with both arms to be picked up as she chanted their names. Catherine lifted her as soon as she was able, kissing her cheek, then settled her on her hip and smiled at DJ who was hugging Steve's side. She opened an arm and DJ ran to her to give her his own hug while Steve kissed Angie hello and Grace looked on with a big smile.

"Did you have fun with Grace?" Catherine asked.

DJ nodded enthusiastically. "We made a LEGO city and it had a school and a library and a work place and a store and a park and lots and lots of houses."

"That sounds awesome," Catherine said, smiling.

"It is! Do you want to see? It's in the playroom. Grace said we could leave it up so you could see it."

"How about you show us in the morning?" she suggested, running a hand over his hair. "Maybe we could add to it."

DJ nodded, smiling excitedly. "Okay!"

"What about you, Angie?" Steve asked. "Did you have fun with Gracie?"

Angie nodded in Catherine's arms, pigtails bouncing. "Eat cookies!"

Catherine chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Grace.

"Just one after dinner," the teenager said.

Now Steve raised an eyebrow.

Grace giggled. "Okay, one before dinner and one after. It's so hard to say no to that face!"

"It's tough," Steve admitted.

"Now you know how we feel," Catherine said, with an amused glance at Steve given their earlier conversation.

Grace stayed while they put the kids to bed, both youngsters giving her multiple hugs before and after being tucked in, then she went downstairs with Steve and Catherine, and Cammie.

"How was date night?" Grace asked eagerly.

"Delicious," Steve said.

Catherine chuckled. "We had a really nice dinner," she said sincerely. "Thank you for the idea, Grace, and for staying with the kids."

"We had so much fun. DJ loves building, and he's so good with involving Angie, asking her if she thinks there should be a park or a library or whatever."

"That's great to hear," Catherine said, though neither parent was surprised having observed similar behavior from DJ themselves.

"Maybe I could babysit again so you guys can have another night out," Grace said as she picked up her small bag. "I know you think it's weird calling it 'date night,' Uncle Steve."

He gave her a hug. "Not that weird." When he released her, he continued, "Just so you know, Gracie, Catherine and I do make time for each other even with two kids around now." He smiled at her. "But we do really appreciate you thinking about us. It was nice having dinner just the two of us."

"That's right," Catherine said, giving Grace her own hug. "Thank you for that."

Steve smiled. "And seeing as how everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so much, I think we can definitely do it again sometime."

Grace beamed. "Okay!"

After giving Cammie a kiss goodbye and promising to text when she got home, Grace headed out the door with a little skip in her step, clearly very happy with how the whole night had turned out.

Steve and Catherine waited until she was in her car and had driven off before closing and locking the door and stepping back into the living room.

"And now …" she began, turning him toward her and sliding her hands up his chest. "What do you say we get on with that whole … making time for each other?"

He grinned, hands slipping around her waist to pull her closer and hovering just above her lips to reply, "Sounds like my kinda date night."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed!**

_Find all our stories (in chronological order!) on our website: marirealmcroll dot wixsite dot com backslash real-mcroll_

_Or in the McRoll in the REAL World community here on fanfiction dot net_

_Find us on Tumblr: mcrollintherealworld dot tumblr dot com _

_You can still join our mailing list by emailing us realmcroll at yahoo dot com with Add me, please! in the subject line._

_And find Mari on Twitter at Mari21763 and add #REALMcRoller _


End file.
